Confucius Jane
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Confucius Jane by debut author Katie Lynch is a lush and charming novel that vividly depicts New York City's Chinatown while taking the reader on a touching journey of family, community, and love.
On leave from college, Jane Morrow has a new job, helping out in her uncle’s fortune cookie factory, and a new roommate—her precocious 11-year-old cousin. Though surrounded by her loving family and their close-knit Chinatown community, Jane feels like a colossal failure. Writing fortunes is a kind of poetry, but Jane is penning words of wisdom for strangers while wondering if she will ever have the guts to move on with her life.
When Jane meets medical student Sutton St. James at her local noodle shop, sparks fly. Sutton stands at a career crossroads: surgical residency or stem cell research overseas? The first is what her father, former Surgeon General and “America's doctor,” has planned for her, but the latter might help find a cure for her mother’s debilitating MS. Neither would make either of them comfortable with their daughter's sexuality. Sutton’s only certainty is that she has no time for a relationship—yet neither she nor Jane can deny the chemistry between them.
Jane opens a whole new view of family to Sutton, a powerful counter to Sutton’s cold, sterile upbringing. Sutton inspires Jane to be more ambitious and to dream again—and challenges her to have faith in herself. But can Sutton and Jane overcome a scandalous secret that threatens to keep them apart?
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this charming debut, which straddles the line between romance and women's fiction, two women attempt to juggle life, love, and their careers. Jane Morrow is a poet currently writing fortunes for her family's fortune cookie factory in New York's Chinatown. Sutton St. James is a doctor who must choose between a prestigious residency at home in New York and a chance to study stem cell research overseas. The two women yield to mutual attraction, even while knowing their romance may not stand up under time and pressure, especially with Sutton's disapproving father pushing her in a direction she doesn't want. Their relationship is brought to the breaking point by a number of factors, forcing Jane and Sutton to rethink their priorities. The protagonists' chemistry and Lynch's knack for description and setting provide a delightful beginning and middle, with an adorable meet cute in a noodle shop facilitated by Jane's precocious, scene-stealing cousin. The last third of the story veers into overwrought territory, piling on the drama from all sides in a somewhat forced manner. Luckily, it's not enough to ruin the appeal of this sweet romance.